[Publication] A new paper by Dr. Matsumura et al. is published on the Journal of Diabetes Investigation.

A new paper titled “Proportion of subsequent clinic visits among persons without regular clinic visits who were screened as having hyperglycemia: A retrospective cohort study” by Dr. Matsumura et al. is published on the Journal of Diabetes Investigation.

In the study, using the JMDC Claims Database, which includes claims data and health checkup data from Health Insurance Societies, they investigated the proportion of subsequent clinic visits for persons screened as having hyperglycemia at health checkups in the fiscal year (FY) 2018 among those without previous diabetes-related medical care or attending regular clinic visits. As a result, the overall visit rate was 21.0%; even in the group with HbA1c levels of 8.0% or higher, the visit rate remained low at around 30%. Those who were diagnosed with hyperglycemia in the FY 2017 health checkup (but did not visit a clinic) had a lower visit rate than those who were not diagnosed with hyperglycemia in the FY 2017 health checkup.

The findings might be useful for designing a tailored approach to encourage high-risk individuals to seek diabetes care through clinic visits. In fact, "patients with untreated diabetes who visited a clinic following a suggestion at a specific health checkup" is proposed as one of the indicators of diabetes medical care system in the 8th Medical Care Plan. This study is considered to be one of the reference papers in considering this indicator definition.

To access the paper, click here:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jdi.13993